Garment hanger



Nov. 13, 1951 F. D. DWYER GARMENT HANGER Filed NOV. 1, 1950 INVENTOR FRANCIS 0. DWYER ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 13, 1951 ""UN'ITED' STATES PATENT "OFFICE v l l I 2,574,963 v V I lii'hiiit h Francis 1).Dwyer, Urbana, Ohio liiiplicatic i ntveifilir 1, 19% ofsiiai No. "195183 "Garmenthangersf'generally are subject to considerable serviceabuse;'that is, they'b'ecome soiled readily due to the varying nature'andc'onditions of the garments they supportiandarparticularly 3 Claims. (Cl/223 88) subject to deteriorationdue to the hanging of nal contour of the same. Dresses and coats having paddedshoulders'are particularly subject to deformation whensuppor'ted on ordinary hangers and are not readily reformed to the'ir true contour when supported on hangers which have been" subjected to considerable service.

Accordingly, it is desirable that a garmen hanger be provided in which the portions of garment hangers supporting the slioulders of garments'conform' closely to'the garment'desi'gn. It is further desirable that the shoulder supports of the hanger whichmayibecomeiworn or soi'led 'in service be readily replaceable'withoutthetinccnvenience and expense of "replacing the complete hanger.

It is a primary object of'this invention 'to'prbvide agarmf1t"hang'erhaving shoulder supports which conform to the shoulder design of the garment to be supported. r 'It is a further object of this invention'to provide a garment hanger havinga readilyreplaceable shoulder support.

It is afurtherobjectof this invention to provide a g'arrnent hanger having a simple structural arrangement for the securing of a i leplaceable shoulder support to the garfnent hanger.

It is another object of this invention to provide a garment hanger of sturdy structure but sufiiciently flexible to allow a limited degree of yield under the weight of a garment supported thereon.

It is an important object of this invention to provide in a two-piece construction garment hanger a structure which is quickly and easily assembled.

These and other objects of this invention are achieved by providing a garment hanger having a portion of a longitudinal member thereof recessed from other portions of the same member, to provide latches integral With the member for the reception and secure fastening of oval shaped shoulder supports for garments. Preferably,

9 Ind thoii'glfri'ot' necessary; the" oval shaped supports have an integrally formed'holding means for en- 'gag'ementwith the latches.

The inventionwill be more clearly'understood other-"objects anda'dvantages made more-apparent by reference to the accompanying drawingswherein:

Figure 1is"an"explodedview in perspective of agarmenthanger embodying the invention;

'j'Figure' 2 is a plan View of the hanger 'body' of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is 'a front elevational view of the hanger of-Figurel;

Figure 4 is 'alongitudihal sectionalview of the shoulder support of "the" invention;

Figure 5 is a-plan view of the shoulder support of Figure' lj and Figure 6 is *a"longitudinalsectional view "of another embodiment of the shoulder support "of the invention.

-R eferr'ing to Figure L'thegarm'ent hanger is pre ferably 'formed of wire of a single continuous length and comprises abody member I having a hook portion 2 supportedby a substantially vertical shank 3 and isprovided with downwardly diverging portions-4, l 5 having, respectively, "lateral' extensions 6, l 'secured thereon. The extensionsfi, l are preferably inclined s'lightlyto form a 'sm'all angle with a horizontal plane passing perpendicularly through'the v'e'rtical shank 3.

Secured to th outerend ofthe extension 6 is a connecting element 8 having the generals'hape of a U, andsimilarly, a connecting element 9 is joined to the lateralextension-l- Between the other'ends of the connecting elements 3, 9 a 1ongitudinalmeinber ill is's'e'cured which has opposing'end portions 'l2,' l3 whichtogether'with laterarextensions 6, l andtheconnecting elements 8} 9 "form-opposing elongated arms. Each of these U-shaped arms lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the vertical shank 3 and each is slightly inclined to the horizontal, as is more clearly seen in Figure 3. This longitudinal member H] has a central portion ll recessed from the end portions l2, l3 towards the body member l to form latches !6, IT, as is more clearly seen in Figure 2. These latches I6, I! receive thereon substantially oval tubes l4, l5 which are each provided internally with collars as may be seen in Figure 4.

The latches l6, I! may be spaced any suitable distance from the lateral extremities of the structure, but I prefer that the spacing be approximately equal to the length of the lateral exten- I sions 6, T as this adds rigidity to the assembly.

The central portion of the member is also preferably arched slightly and upwardly in the vertical direction to strengthen the hanger.

The collar I8 is somewhat smaller in diameter than the width between the extension 6 and the end portion I2 and consequently the wires thereof are forced slightly towards each other when the collar is passed thereover to engage the latch M5 formed between the end portion l2 and the central portion llof member In. The collar 18 is of a sturdy light weight material, such as heavy paper, or a light weight wood which will sustain the slight stress imposed thereon during positioning. Similarly, oval tube l-5 having collar l9 engages the latch 1'! formed between theend portion is and the central portion H.

The oval shaped tubes I4, [5, which may be of any suitable material but are preferably of a fibrous material such as paper, are positioned over the extremities of the garment hanger with the broad sides extending in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of end portion 13 as seen in Figure 3. Thus the shorter sides 2| of the oval tubes receive substantially all the weight of the garment hung thereon. Further, this arrangement securely locks the oval tube against rotational movement on the hanger extremities.

In a further embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 6 the oval shaped tubes 22 instead of collars such as l8, 19, are provided with inwardly flanged portions 23, 24. This tube 22 is adapted to slide over the extremity of the garment hanger in such fashion that the inwardly flanged portion 23 engages the latch 16 or I! of the garment hanger in much the same fashion as the collars l8, l9 engage the said latches. The inwardly flanged portion 24, however, is adapted to engage the extremities of the garment hanger under slight compressive stress and thus a more rigid fastening is secured. However, it will be noted that such a tube, similar to the arrangement of tubes I4, l5 may easily be withdrawn from the hanger without destruction of the same, since the tubes "and the wires are in force fitting relation.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A garment hanger comprising a pair of wire U-shaped members disposed in opposed relation in substantially horizontal planes and having the open ends thereof adjacent each other, said members each having first and second limb portions, an inverted Y-shaped element extending substantially vertically from said first limb of said members and integrally secured thereto, latches inwardly extending from the free ends of said second limbs toward said first limbs at the ends thereof adjacent the extended limbs of said inverted Y-shaped element, a longitudinal element secured between the inner ends of said latches, and an oval shaped tubular member having an internal collar secured therein positioned over each of said U-shaped members, said collar of each said tubular member securely engaging a said latch.

2. A garment hanger comprising a pair of wire U-shaped members disposed in opposed relation in substantially horizontal planes and having the open ends thereof adjacent each other, said members each having first and second limb portions, an inverted Y-shaped element extending substantially vertically from said first limb of said members and integrally secured thereto, latches inwardly extending from the free ends of said second limbs toward said first limbs at the ends thereof adjacent the extended legs of said inverted Y-shaped element, a longitudinal element secured between the irmer ends of said latches, and an oval shaped tubular member having an inwardly flanged portion therein positioned over each said U-shaped member, said inwardly flanged portion of each said tubular member securely engaging a said latch.

3. A garment hanger comprising a vertically extending shank portion, a pair of U-shaped arms of resilient wire disposed perpendicularly to said shank portion on opposite sides thereof, each said arm having first and second limb portions defining substantially horizontal planes, said first limbs each having one end thereof secured to said shank and the other end thereof secured to said second limbs to form a closure at the end of each said arm remote from said shank, a latch in each said second limbs between a said closure and said shank, each latch extending towards an adjacent first limb, and an oval shaped tubular member having inwardly flanged portions at each end thereof positioned over each said arm, one flanged portion of each said tubular member securely engaging a said latch, and the other said inwardly flanged portion of each said tubular member resiliently engaging said closure of each said arm.

FRANCIS D. DWYER.

REFERENCES CI-TED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,741,750 Wordingham Dec. 31, 1929 1,910,901 Koplow May 23, 1933 

